Folding Forum

I've been using Folding@home for a few days now and have noticed that it seems to be consuming way more network bandwidth than it should.

My internet speed on fast(dot)com while not folding is about 2-3 Mbps.

However, once I begin folding, it drops down to 65 Kbps, which makes working online next to impossible.

From what I've read online, this isn't normal as the client shouldn't be consuming too much bandwidth to begin with.

On my CPU slot settings, I have set the number of threads to 1.

My GPU slot settings are the defaults (-1).

I have set the Folding Power to "Full".

Currently, only my GPU is running as my CPU doesn't have any work units yet.

On the Task Manager, my GPU is running at 40+% and my CPU is at 20+% (the norm when it's not doing any folding).

Below are my specs from the System Info tab:

CPU: Intel (R) Core(TM) i7-9700 CPU @ 3.00GHz
CPU ID: GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 158 Stepping 13
CPUs: 8
Memory: 31.86GiB
Free Memory: 25.56GiB
Threads: WINDOWS_THREADS
OS Version: 6.2
Has Battery: false
On Battery: false
UTC Offset: 8
CWD: C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Roaming\FAHClient
OS: Windows 10 Enterprise
OS Arch: AMD64
GPUs: 1
GPU 0: Bus:1 Slot:0 Func:0 NVIDIA:7 GP107 [GeForce GTX 1050 Ti] 2138
CUDA Device 0: Platform:0 Device:0 Bus:1 Slot:0 Compute:6.1 Driver:10.2
OpenCL Device 0: Platform:0 Device:0 Bus:1 Slot:0 Compute:1.2 Driver:442.59
OpenCL Device 1: Platform:1 Device:0 Bus:NA Slot:NA Compute:2.1 Driver:26.20
Win32 Service: false

My questions are:

1. Could this unusual bandwidth consumption be linked to how complex and high-priority the new Coronavirus work units are, and is there a way to control how much bandwidth the client uses?

2. Is there a something I can do to make my GPU work harder (go beyond 40+%)?

Folding doesn't use any bandwidth when running a WU. Just for the download of work at the start and upload of results at the end.

It's possible, but unlikely, that it's stuck in an upload / download loop - Check in the log for any clues or in task manager to see what if anything is using bandwidth.

What's more likely if you're on wireless is your GPU running flat out is producing enough electrical interference to block wifi, or not enough CPU cycles left to process network requests.

About working harder - the usual problem is that GPUs work too hard. Where are you seeing 40%? task manager doesn't work for this. The most likely things to restrict GPU are not enough spare CPU cycles due to running other CPU intensive tasks or limited PCI bus bandwidth.

rwh202 wrote:It's possible, but unlikely, that it's stuck in an upload / download loop - Check in the log for any clues or in task manager to see what if anything is using bandwidth.

Will do.

rwh202 wrote:What's more likely if you're on wireless is your GPU running flat out is producing enough electrical interference to block wifi

I haven't considered this angle. I am indeed using a Wifi network adapter (it's plugged in at the back of the CPU).
If this is the case, is there anything I can do on my side? Will plugging it to the front of the CPU so it's farther away from the GPU be of any help?

rwh202 wrote:Where are you seeing 40%? task manager doesn't work for this.

I was indeed using the Task Manager to check F@h's performance impact on my system.
What do you recommend for accurately checking CPU and GPU performance?

@rwh202 It seems your answer was right on the money!

I'm currently folding with just my CPU at 4 cores and my network bandwidth is still working properly!

It seems that I won't be able to fold with my GPU because my Wifi Network Adapter only works with USB 2.0 which are all located close to my GPU at the back of my system unit.

I can't plug my network adapter to the front either because those are all USB 3.0 and it doesn't work if it's not plugged in directly to the system so USB extensions are a no-go as well.

Guess I'll just remove my GPU slot altogether then.

Many thanks for resolving this issue!

@rwh202 One last question, what do you recommend for accurately checking CPU and GPU performance?

For checking of GPU performance (utilization), try GPU-Z. That's the best. On sensor tab you can clearly see how much of GPU is used at a moment.
For CPU is from my point of view enough to use Task manager built in Windows switched to see logical CPU. Right click in the graph...

petnek wrote:For checking of GPU performance (utilization), try GPU-Z. That's the best. On sensor tab you can clearly see how much of GPU is used at a moment.
For CPU is from my point of view enough to use Task manager built in Windows switched to see logical CPU. Right click in the graph...

Yep, GPU-Z is best for just GPU

CPUID HWMonitor is a good whole system tool - temperatures, voltages and utilization - pretty much every sensor on the machine!

Yes, CPUID HWmonitor is good also for GPU. There is everything at once

Noted! Thanks for the tip, you guys!